Wednesday 25 June 2014 19:03, UK
IRB Junior Player of the Year Handre Pollard will make his South Africa debut when he starts at fly-half in the one-off Test against Scotland in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The rising Bulls star, who recently captained his country to second place at the Junior World Championships in New Zealand after a 21-20 defeat by champions England, is one of five uncapped players in the 23-man matchday squad.
"Handre is a very talented player and has a big opportunity this week, but he'll have (scrum-half) Fourie du Preez's experience next to him, while he's played a lot with (centre) Jan Serfontein before," said Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer.
The other four uncapped players are on the bench, prop Marcel van der Merwe, lock Stephan Lewies, loose-forward Teboho Mohoje and fly-half Marnitz Boshoff.
Other changes to the starting line-up from the side which edged a thrilling 31-30 victory over Wales last weekend see wing Lwazi Mvovo, flank Schalk Burger, lock Lood de Jager and prop Coenie Oosthuizen all return to the team.
The injured Tendai Mtawarira (neck), Flip van der Merwe (knee) Willem Alberts (concussion) and Johan Goosen (knee) were not considered for selection.
"Our plans had always been to try a few new combinations this week against Scotland and I'm looking forward to see the guys grab their opportunities," Meyer added.
Meanwhile, Van der Merwe joined a long list of injured players to have been sidelined for the rest of the season after he was ruled out for six months following an examination by specialists in Pretoria.
Van der Merwe injured his posterior cruciate ligaments against Wales while Gurthro Steenkamp, Schalk Brits, Bakkies Botha, Francois Louw, Morne Steyn, Wynand Olivier and Bryan Habana were all released back to their clubs in France and England and not available for selection.
South Africa: Le Roux, Hendricks, Pietersen, Serfontein, Mvovo, Pollard, du Preez, Oosthuizen, B du Plessis, J du Plessis, de Jager, Matfield (capt), Coetzee, Burger, Vermeulen
Replacements: Strauss, Nyakane, van der Merwe, Lewies, Mohoje, Hougaard, Boshoff, Kirchner
Watch the Springboks take on the Scots on Sky Sports HD 3 this Saturday, kick-off 1600
